The Lunar New Year arrived in the blink of an eye, but the festive atmosphere at the Marshal's Mansion was not very strong. This was because a riot had suddenly broken out in a village on the border of Yunnan and Guizhou.

The riot came very suddenly. A group of strangers appeared out of nowhere in the surrounding area, committing all sorts of atrocities, including arson, murder, looting, and pillaging, with extremely negative consequences.

Lian Wenjie hadn't taken the riot seriously, since it was on his own turf and he figured it wouldn't escalate much. So he handed the matter over to his adjutant, Lian Bing.

They didn't take the training lightly. After some investigation, they learned that the enemy was a small team of less than a hundred people. They didn't underestimate them and instead cautiously sent a regiment to suppress them.

As a result, the entire regiment fled back in disarray, suffering over half its casualties, without even catching a glimpse of the enemy. Lian Bing realized the seriousness of the situation, and although he found it hard to believe, he still reported it to Lian Wenjie.

The returning soldiers all said that the enemy was strange; they appeared and disappeared without warning, and no one knew where they were. They only saw people around them being killed by the enemy one after another.

Lian Wenjie was immediately displeased, slamming his fist on the table and yelling, "Damn it, do you think my territory can tolerate these charlatans? Send more men, send a whole battalion!"

Upon receiving the order, Lianbing immediately dispatched men, but more than half of the thousand-plus men were still killed. At this point, not only Lianbing was afraid, but even Lian Wenjie began to have doubts.

Regardless, Lian Wenjie dared not take any more risks. These soldiers were the result of years of painstaking training by the Lian family. And yet, before they'd even fought many real battles, they'd all been killed in the gutter!

Lian Wenjie made a decisive decision and sent Qian Chen with troops to suppress the bandits.

“Qianchen, today is Lunar New Year’s Eve. Logically, we should reunite with our families and celebrate the Spring Festival before setting off. However, the local people can’t wait. Every day we delay, the people will suffer one more day. Speed ​​is of the essence; let’s set off under cover of night.” Lian Wenjie finished speaking, patting Qianchen on the shoulder. “We’ll be waiting for your triumphant return!”

"Don't worry, Commander!" Qian Chen said, giving Lian Wenjie a military salute, then walked to Leng Yue's side, "Take care of yourself, I'll be back soon."

Leng Yue held Qian Chen's hand, looking at him for a long time without saying a word, until Lian Wenjie urged her on, and she said only one sentence out of a thousand words, "Be careful."

Qianchen nodded and ruffled Lengyue's hair. "Don't worry, I promise you I'll come back soon."

Leng Yue stared at the crimson mark between Qian Chen's brows, unable to shake her unease. These past few days, she had been guiding Qian Chen's soul and realized why he hadn't wanted to talk about it. It was a wound, a wound from his soul, and he was afraid of worrying her.

Although she tried her best to soothe Qianchen's wounds, and the wounds seemed to be shrinking, it was still too slow. Leng Yue was already very anxious, and this sudden battle disrupted all her plans.

Leng Yue was extremely anxious and irritable as she watched Qian Chen and his men walk further and further away.

Back in her residence, Leng Yue paced back and forth, unable to calm down. Ling, who was in the spatial dimension, was affected by Leng Yue's emotions and hurriedly contacted her.

"Yueyue, hurry up and practice the Heart-Cleansing Mantra. If you keep going like this, the Happy Doll will explode." For convenience, Ling had previously bound the Happy Doll and Leng Yue to a master-servant contract, so even if Leng Yue wasn't with the Happy Doll, she could still monitor the changes in its values.

Just a moment ago, Leng Yue's emotional value reached over 500, which startled Zero. Not only that, Zero also sensed Leng Yue's emotional turmoil, something he had never seen before.

"Take a deep breath, relax, yes, very good, just like that..." Seeing that Leng Yue was still unable to calm down, Ling gently guided her.

Leng Yue finally stopped her wandering thoughts, sat cross-legged, and began to silently recite the Heart-Cleansing Mantra. "The Great Dao is formless, yet it gives birth to heaven and earth; the Great Dao is without emotion, yet it governs the sun and moon..."

After several cycles of circulation, Leng Yue finally calmed down.

After calming down, Leng Yue's thoughts became much clearer. "I can't just sit here and wait for him. I have to go with him."

Zero knew she couldn't stop them, so she asked, "When are we going?"

Leng Yue thought for a moment, "Now I'll prepare the talismans first, and you help me exchange for more medicines to nourish my soul. Once everything is ready, we'll set off."

After Leng Yue finished speaking, she asked someone for cinnabar, yellow paper, and other items, then locked herself in her study and refused to come out. Although the servants found it strange, none of them dared to say anything.

Because this isn't the main residence, Leng Yue is the absolute mistress of the house. Therefore, no one can control what Leng Yue says or does.

This made it easier for Leng Yue to act.

It wasn't until midnight that Leng Yue looked at the table full of talismans before putting away her paper and pen. She stretched and loosened her limbs before throwing herself into a new round of busy work.

Before she could tidy up properly, Leng Yue tossed out the Qiankun bag that Ling had just exchanged, muttering incantations as the talisman flew into it on its own.

"Alright, one bag for the talismans, one for the medicine, all done." After finishing all this, Leng Yue prepared to open the portal and leave.

Ling hurriedly called out to Leng Yue, "Yueyue, what if you're gone for a long time this time and we can't find you here?"

"Oh right, the stand-in, the stand-in, it's time for her to make her appearance again." Leng Yue said, releasing the stand-in.

Ling still felt uneasy, but Leng Yue was very confident, "Don't worry, I'm the mistress here, she'll be fine no matter what."

"But where should we pinpoint our location?" Zero asked again. "Should we follow the main group or act independently?"

"Let's go take a look first. If it's not feasible, then we won't let Qianchen go." Leng Yue was actually scared too, after all, she didn't even know if the other party was a human or a ghost. Especially since they killed without blinking an eye, she couldn't help but worry.

Especially since this matter was related to Qian Chen, Leng Yue couldn't help but feel afraid. This fear and worry spurred her to rush to the front.

"Yueyue, if I were to encounter something like this, would you come to save me without considering the consequences?" Ling dared not ask the question; at this moment, he was both jealous and afraid.

"Huh? What?" Leng Yue was in a hurry and didn't hear Ling's words clearly. "What did you just say? I didn't hear you clearly."

"It's nothing," Zero said, escorting Leng Yue to the edge of the bandit camp before retracting the Anywhere Door. "Be careful, I can't even see their exact location."

"You can't even see it?" Leng Yue thought to herself, no wonder so many people came before but didn't encounter a single soldier. Indeed, if even a zero can't be seen, how could an ordinary person see it?

“I can’t see anything, there’s a lot of fog ahead,” Zero shook his head, looking at the faded surveillance footage.

"But there's no fog ahead!" Leng Yue asked, puzzled as to why they were seeing different things.

"Not only that, the screen is frozen and I can't click on it no matter what I do." Zero kept trying, but to no avail.

"Stuck and motionless? Now that you mention it, I also feel like the area in front of me is stationary." Leng Yue, with her invisibility talisman on, quietly looked ahead.

In Yunnan and Guizhou, the trees and vegetation are lush, and there are many mountain winds. However, the trees and flowers in front of us are completely still, like a large, static picture.

Leng Yue didn't know what this thing was, nor did she know if moving forward would trigger some kind of mechanism, so she could only hide and observe from the shadows.